All Packed Up

I knew I had to spend a lot of time kitty sitting at Daughter's at the end of the month. I'll be in and out for the next two weeks. I love to watercolor at her house because she has a long dark granite island with a sink in the middle that's perfect for making a mess.

 Thanks to my binge buying, I have way too many watercolor choices so I had the big idea of making little sample cards to take along so I wouldn't have to pack any of my tubes of paint. My card kit company does this and it works just fine.  Mine didn't work. I couldn't get the dots to dry even after several weeks.

Then while watching some YouTube videos I saw some folks using the coolest thing.  It's a watercolor booklet. It's just what I needed.

 It's lightweight and small so it's easy to pack. Those squares are watercolors. You just run your brush over them and you get paint. Crazy, huh?

 All those gooey dots didn't go to waste.

I used them to make a bunch of splashy backgrounds for flower doodles to take along.

I also bought one of those adult coloring books that's just for watercolor for the trip. Sometimes I just want to paint and thinking about what to paint just gets in the way of the fun. I've got a lot of time to fill so I'm all about the fun.

An End and a Beginning

 The towel on the loom is almost done. I've only got a few inches left to weave.

 My rule has always been to warp something new while I was weaving so the loom wouldn't sit empty but due to all the remodeling of the upstairs craft room that didn't happen.

 I thought since I had so much of these pretty colors left I might make a different towel with the leftovers but that didn't work out. There wasn't enough left.

 I went stash diving to see if I could come up with something close and I found these. They are not a match but I think they've got the spirit.

Unlike the one I am working, on this towel will just be a plain twill. I'm still not sure about all those holes. I can't wait to see what happens to them after a wash.

Sunflowers

 After my epic machine quilting fail I had to prove to myself I still had what it takes.

 I have my Sunflower quilt all kitted up so it's easy to just to grab it and get started.

 It's a fun block that goes together quickly.

 Now this is a machine I can deal with. The Juki quilter not so much. I did figure out it was the tension setting but I'm still not ready to try it out on a real quilt. I need a few more days of practice to work up the courage.

 In the meantime I'll just keep making sunflowers.

Beating the Heat

It's been brutal here all week but The Mister and I got a nice break.

 Son and DIL had rented a lake house up in the mountains for a week and gave us an invite for a couple of days.

That's Deep Creek Lake. I haven't been up there in ages. The last time I was up there I was with my parents and I was hauling around a carload of kids.

The weather was beautiful. Cool and dry. It was even a bit chilly with a wonderful breeze. Perfect for sitting outside and knitting. I was outside for two days without a bug bite. In August. Can you believe it?

 Pup also got to be outside for a change. I think she even got a bit sunburned. We haven't been outside for any length of time back home. It's just been too miserable.

 The Grands had a great time in the lake. They were jumping off the dock and collecting piles of rocks.

 I had a standing joke about seeing bears. Everywhere you go there are bear warnings.

This is the only one I saw. Poor guy. It made me sad to see him all stuffed like that at the Nature Center but the Grands loved him.

 We went to the Deep Creek State Park for a hike. Little Grand led the way with the map he picked up at the nature center. It was too cute.

Back at the cabin all they wanted to do is beat me in chess. Playing chess with a 4 year old is an experience. Especially since he knew the rules better than I did.

We took the long trip back home yesterday and as soon as we got over the first mountain range we went from 76 degrees all the way back up to 94. Ugh. They are promising us a nice weekend and they better deliver. I need to open the windows. My stuffy house was no fun to come back to.

Big Needle Wednesday

 I've got two more petals on the dishcloth and it's a done deal. I really like this Dishie. It's stiff enough to be useful but it also has some spring in it. Knitting with it is not a slog.

 The Bosc Pear shawl that I am knitting with my wonky handspun has another repeat done.

 There are 14 more rows on the Follow and Lead scarf but you can't tell. This is the black hole of knitting. That's Malabrigo lace btw.

 I am shaping the top of the wonky handspun Northern Lights hat but I have a dilemma. That's a provisional cast on at the bottom. I need to block it before I knit a liner to see if it's worth the trouble but I don't want to felt those live stitches. I think I am going to have to put it on a cable first.  That's going to be an adventure.

The socks are progressing slowly. Everyone is past the heel now. From left to right, that's Hawthorne in the Jade Island colorway, Lang's Jawoll, and Wandering Cat's Barn Cat in the Laguna colorway. I knit socks while I watch mindless TV but at the moment I am bingeing Mindhunter on Netflix and that is anything but mindless.

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 Miss Wisdom is done!

 Up next in September (all ready?) are two Miss Friendships and a pot of flowers.

The best thing I can say about the crewel adventure is that I got it kitted up in a plastic box so it's more user friendly. Nothing kills a project for me quicker than having to dig it out to work on it.

Another struggle I had with it this week was finding something to stretch in on. My regular embroidery hoops didn't do the job with the slick linen. I had an old knock off Q Snap that I got from Micheal's that I hated for cross stitch but it works great with this project when I stick in in my floor stand. You need both hands with this stuff and apparently more stitching talent than I possess but ugly as it is I am enjoying it so it's not all bad.

And.....I found one more of Erica Wilson's Beatrix Potter crewel kits to add to my collection. I need to get over this obsession soon. I really don't need another thing to work on.

Under the Big Top

Daughter and I had words over going to see Cirque du Soleil's new show Volta. First it was the weather. I am used to seeing shows in the fall or early spring. The idea of being in a big plastic tent in August was not my idea of a good time. The heat index yesterday was over 100. Ugh.

Then it was the theme. I like the big, splashy, exotic shows like Dralion, Quidam and Corteo. 

 This show is about street sports. Kid stuff. I thought it was going to be a big yawn. When we walked in it wasn't promising. It was a bleak, bare stage. Thank goodness it was cool inside the tent. I was ready to go home if it hadn't been.

I couldn't take photos during the show but I can tell you I was sad when I saw all the performers coming out for their final bow.

 There was a reason they got a big standing O. As usual, Cirque du Soleil knocked it out of the park. If you have grandkids and Volta comes to town-take'em and go. It's that darn good. And for all you young at heart grandmas out there, I can tell you the cast of incredible young men is very easy on the eyes. Hubba, hubba y'all.